'Drug mule' gets up to 30 years

Walter VonRosetel-Navarro will spend up to 30 years in prison for his role… (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO, THE…)

April 08, 2011|By Kevin Amerman, OF THE MORNING CALL

A "drug mule" who admitted Thursday to swallowing packaged heroin in Colombia then passing and selling it in the Lehigh Valley as part of a multimillion dollar drug ring will serve up to three decades behind bars.

Walter VonRoestel-Navarro, 41, of Colombia was sentenced to 10 to 30 years in state prison and fined $100,000 by Lehigh County Judge Maria L. Dantos after pleading guilty to conspiracy and drug charges.

"I am repentant for what I have done," VonRoestel-Navarro said through a Spanish-speaking interpreter. "These 18 months I've been in [jail], inhabited with drug addicts, I've realized the harm it can do."

VonRoestel-Navarro was one of eight people charged in the operation. Authorities say the drug-smuggling ring generated $4.8 million in cocaine and heroin between October 2007 and October 2009.

Seven of the eight defendants have now been convicted and jailed. The only one remaining is "middle man" Ramiro Ortiz, 42, of Allentown, who was a main witness for the state attorney general's office in its case against all the others.

Ortiz, who wore a wire for authorities during their investigation and testified against one of the ringleaders during a trial last year, is scheduled to have a court appearance later this month on drug and conspiracy charges.

According to Robert Rosner, a prosecutor with the attorney general:

Ewarg "Edward" Larios of Easton was "the money guy." Larios, who worked as a nurse at area hospitals, helped funnel drug money back to Colombia where his brother, Herbert Larios, and VonRoestel-Navarro swallowed the drugs. They carried them into the Valley, excreting them and selling them to Ortiz. Herbert Larios carried cocaine while VonRoestel-Navarro brought heroin.

Authorities say Ortiz sold the drugs to street-level dealers in the Lehigh Valley.

Ortiz, who was working as a LANTA bus driver while dealing on the side, was initially arrested in September 2009 and agreed to help police arrest the people he was buying from and selling to.

Herbert Larios is serving 10 to 35 years in state prison. Ewarg Larios is serving eight to 10 years.